Croydon dealer must pay back £900,000 drug money

A CROYDON drug dealer has been ordered to pay back almost £900,000 of drug money.

A confiscation order for £899,702.37 was issued against Afamdi Maduabuch Unaka at a confiscation hearing at Croydon Crown Court last Thursday (November 6).

Unaka was arrested in June 2012 in central Croydon after police got a tip-off he was involved in money laundering. He was found with £10,000 cash and arrested.

Officers then carried out a search at the 38-year-old’s home address in Pampisford Road, where they discovered 86 packets of cocaine in a wardrobe in his bedroom. It weighed 1.3kg with an estimated street value of £260,000.

Unaka was charged with possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

He pleaded guilty to the offence, but claimed that he had found the drugs in a park and was not further involved in the drugs trade or dealing.

A Newton hearing was held in October 2012 and the judge concluded Unaka played a leading role in the drug trade, but that he was essentially working on his own behalf and not for an organised criminal network.

Unaka was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Following his conviction officers from the Met’s Criminal Finance Team began to investigate Unaka’s finances under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, with a view to confiscating any assets gained through his criminal activity.

They seized statements and evidence at his home address and discovered that he held various off-shore bank accounts in Jersey, as well as evidence of overseas balance transfers to the USA, Nigeria and Peru.

The financial investigation, which lasted several months, found in the six years leading up to his arrest Unaka had made just over £1,000,000 from criminal activity.

At the end of the confiscation hearing Unaka was ordered to repay just under £900,000, due to be retrieved from his accounts based in the UK or abroad.

The £10,000 that was seized by police has also been confiscated as part of this.

Unaka has six months to pay the money back. He will face five years further imprisonment if he defaults on the payment.

Detective Constable Jim Cann, from the Met’s South West criminal finance team, carried out the financial investigation. He said: “Unaka tried to claim that he had found the drugs in a local park and that he wasn’t normally involved in drug dealing.

“However, it was clear from his banks accounts, and his overseas travel statements we found that he was deeply involved in the drugs trade.

“It’s important that criminals are brought to justice, but it’s also important that they can’t profit from their crime after they’re released from prison and that the public gets to see that crime doesn’t pay.”